New Question - Re: Water

[ner188]

(I told you guys you wouldn't be able to get rid of me ;D)

I have a question on water for my guinea pig, Grayci. As some of you already know, I lost my first guinea pig, Patches, so I'm intent on doing all the right things for Grayci, and getting her to drink water seems to be my latest dilemma.

I don't think she drinks any water at all. I never see the bottle go down. When I got my first piggie, I was told to use vitamin C drops in her water, and I never saw her drink it either. I just found this statement in my vast guinea pig internet searches, and I was wondering if it's because of the vitamin C drops that neither of my piggies are interested in water.

Vitamin & Multi-Vitamin Drops

Also avoid Vitamin C and multi-vitamin water drops - these are pointless, last an hour at most (Vitamin C often degrades when exposed to the light) and deter the pig from drinking the water by distorting the taste. The minerals that remain do more harm than good.

If the pig is getting plenty of fresh veggies then there is no need for supplements at all.
If you really have to give your pig a supplement, perhaps for medical reasons, find a low-sugar human Vitamin C tablet (or a small animal tablet by Oxbow) and crush it, then hand-feed to your cavy by either sprinkling it on veggies or mixing it with a suitable blend of veggies and water.

Is this true? Should I not be using vitamin C drops in the water?

Also, what is the best water bottle to use? I originally got one with the ball-bearing, but it leaked horribly, so now I have one with a metal stick thingy, and I'm wondering if Grayci is having trouble figuring it out.

 

[kellyandpiggies]

It's true in a way As long as she is having plenty of veg (cucumber is almost 100% water) then it doesn't matter if she doesn't drink as she gets plenty of fluids through them

I have some piggies that don't drink

 

[smiler]

I agree with kelly..mine get most of their water from their veg/fruit! O0

I dont buy the vitamin drop idea..they should get all they need from what you feed them!

 

[*Gem*]

From what I've been told if guinea pigs get plenty of fresh veg than they may not drink as much as they get their water through that. I know ours very rarely drink their water but they get cucumber, cabbage, plain lettuce etc which contain alot of water so I think they get what they need through that.

Alot of dry food has extra vitamin C in it which is normally labeled on the front of the bag and if they're getting fresh veg every day then they should be getting all the vitamin C that they need.

We have a bottle with a ball, but ours doesnt seem to drip, at least not a noticable amount.

 

[maisydaisystar]

maybe she won't drink it because of the taste, if your giving enough veg with vit c in you don't need to use extra vitamins, and it does degrade, so isn't really any good, I don't use it, if i were you i'd just use water.

 

[ner188]

So you think the reason why she doesn't drink the water is just because she's getting enough hydration through all the fruits and veggies she gets? Should I quit putting the drops in the water?

This is what I've been feeding her the last two days:

Timothy hay (in hay ball)
Guinea pig pellets
A few corn leaves (with some silk yesterday)
About 5 or 6 green grapes
A couple of grape tomatoes (yesterday... she didn't seem to like them much, though)

And yesterday evening I hand fed her about a leaf's worth of romaine lettuce as a treat. (She LOVES that stuff!)

Is this enough for her not to want to drink water? Does it sound like a healthy enough diet?

I'm going to the store and plan to pick up some cucumbers, carrots and maybe a pepper or two today. Should I be getting anything else?

 

[kellyandpiggies]

So you think the reason why she doesn't drink the water is just because she's getting enough hydration through all the fruits and veggies she gets? Should I quit putting the drops in the water?

Is this enough for her not to want to drink water? Does it sound like a healthy enough diet?

It sure will be the reason I think for now to lay off the drops

I give mine extra cucumber if they are not drinking

 

[ner188]

I think I will stop putting the vitamin C drops in the water and see if she drinks it. I don't think they used the drops at the pet store, so maybe she thinks it tastes icky. Of course, she may not even try it now, if that's the case.

They also didn't feed anything to her at the store other than an orange slice, pellets and hay, so maybe she was more thirsty there? (I did see her drink while she was still at the store.)

 

[piglover]

So you think the reason why she doesn't drink the water is just because she's getting enough hydration through all the fruits and veggies she gets? Should I quit putting the drops in the water?

This is what I've been feeding her the last two days:

Timothy hay (in hay ball)
Guinea pig pellets
A few corn leaves (with some silk yesterday)
About 5 or 6 green grapes
A couple of grape tomatoes (yesterday... she didn't seem to like them much, though)

And yesterday evening I hand fed her about a leaf's worth of romaine lettuce as a treat. (She LOVES that stuff!)

Is this enough for her not to want to drink water? Does it sound like a healthy enough diet?

I'm going to the store and plan to pick up some cucumbers, carrots and maybe a pepper or two today. Should I be getting anything else?

Yeah.........cabbage, cauliflower(most nutrious veg - leaves), celery, parsley, dill, coriander, green beans, baby corn, apple - lol! thats my list but lots of variety is the key I think, ditch the drops and feed the veg!

 

[maisydaisystar]

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=47.0

Yes definatly stop the vit drops,
The list of foods you have given is great but they are not high in vit c, if you look at the above link you can see the full range of fruit and veg to feed, and the ones high in vit c,
Grass is great too but if they are not used to it, feed a small amount each day and increase it. This is probably their favourite food.